Phone scammers double down in Daly City

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Two Daly City residents fell victim to phone scams last week. (Photo: San Francisco Chronicle)

Two Daly City residents are the latest to fall prey to scam artists who tricked them into forking over more than $10,000 total in prepaid credit cards, police officials said.

On Aug. 20., the first victim took a call from someone who simply said, “Hi.” When the victim asked if the caller was Matthew, her grandson, the caller replied that it was — and that he’d been arrested for drunken driving in San Francisco.

With the help of an accomplice, who posed as a public defender, the caller was able to convince the victim to load $4,500 onto nine prepaid Green Dot cards from a nearby CVS store to help her “grandson” make bail.

When she returned from the store, the scammers called back, and she relayed the serial numbers to them. The suspects, apparently unsatisfied with their take, called the victim back a third time, convincing her to buy another $1,000 worth of Green Dot cards.

At that point, the victim’s daughter was informed of the scheme — and she called police.

The next day, police said, a 33-year-old Daly City man got a voicemail from someone claiming to be an IRS agent.

The caller said the victim owed nearly $6,000 in back taxes, and that if he didn’t pay up within an hour he would be arrested.

The victim was told to go to Safeway and buy “reload-it” cards in very specific amounts. He did and gave the serial numbers from the back of the cards to the “agent,” who then pressed on in a bid to grab more money. He told his prey to log on to the IRS website to get a confirmation number.

While the victim was waiting for confirmation, the suspect called again, telling him the number wasn’t available because the victim owed approximately $9,000 in taxes from previous years. At that point the victim realized something was off and called police.

Authorities warned that the IRS would never attempt to collect fines over the phone or through a prepaid card. Anyone receiving such a call should hang up and contact the cops.